Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senators for their contributions to the debate on this provision. The section provides for a reserve power and my intention is to use it in only one circumstance, namely, where an employer fails to attend a hearing at first instance and subsequently appeals the decision to the Labour Court. I do not want to encourage that type of practice when we are providing a simple and clean way of having cases heard quickly. If an employer decides he or she is not going to co-operate with that simple mechanism and then proceeds to appeal the case to the court, I will impose a fee. This is a reserve power, as I said, and the circumstance I have indicated is the only instance in which I will use it. I assure Senators I do not intend to introduce any fees for workers taking cases of the types they outlined.To put Senator Leyden’s fears to rest, it is not a revenue raising measure and I have no intention of using it to raise revenue. However, introducing fees in the one instance which I propose would encourage a better use of the legislation and is a justifiable use of a fee in a situation in which somebody has put somebody through an initial hearing, fails to turn up and then decides to appeal it and force it into a Labour Court, delaying the worker's opportunity to have his or her case dealt with quickly and fairly in the first instance. This is the only instance in which I intend to use the power and it is right that I should be able to do so.